David
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Tom Tighe
- Posts: 245
- Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:27 pm
David
David is a (young) man of action. He has won fame from the Goliath incident and fortune by marrying the king's daughter. This is where most people start believing in their own abilities and leave God behind. David respects Saul and just can't figure out why Saul wants him dead. Even the dowry David had to pay was a trap to get him killed. David acts boldly, but keeps God centered in his thoughts and humbly keeps reminding himself of his place in the Big Picture. I tend to not act boldly and am often trying to center the picture around me.
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Tom Tighe
- Posts: 245
- Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:27 pm
David as King?
After Saul is killed, David is named king, but only over the tribe of Judah. Israel only stayed unified for about 40 years (why does that number keep coming up?). Judah is about 1/3 of the land mass. I think the land of Simeon has been absorbed into Judah, because Simeon isn't really mentioned much after this. We now see the groundwork for a game of thrones struggle between Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (the northern kingdom). David does unify the nation again, but now that Israel has been given an earthly king, they just can't get away from politics.
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Tom Tighe
- Posts: 245
- Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:27 pm
Absalom and Sheba, political threats to David
The story of Absalom is tragic. He is clearly one of David’s favorite sons. He is exiled after avenging the rape of his sister by his half brother. He returns only to try to undermine his father’s authority. David is torn on what to do. It would not have been uncommon for A king to assassinate any threats, even from family, but David can’t do that and is confident that God’s will will be done. He yields and runs. Absolam is famous for his thick hair and that hair gets tangled in a tree branch and he can’t get free. He is found hanging like a piñata and killed. David is distraught but God’s anointed is protected. Absolam never made a moral or religious claim to the throne, only a political one, but he fulfilled Nathan’s prophesy in 2 Samuel 12:11 after the “Bathsheba incident”.
Similarly, Sheba has political motives. He challenges David’s authority beyond David’s tribe of Judah. After Absalom is killed everybody is trying to show their loyalty to David. The other tribes claim that Judah is essentially getting favoritism because they are David’s tribe. The men of Judah deny that, and then Sheba says something to the effect that he doesn’t care and no one in the other 10 tribes should recognize David’s authority over them. There are 2 interesting points in his statement.
First is that the authority to govern was given from God, not earned by David. Surely Sheba didn’t take that into account. This is man’s original sin of thinking he should be in charge.
The second is we lost a tribe. It was Judah vs the other 10 tribes. Now the Levites don’t count because of the special arrangement of the responsibilities of the priesthood. But the land was divided in to 12 parts (13 if you count both halves of Mannassa). I think the tribe of Simeon, whose territory was surrounded by Judah, has been effectively absorbed into Judah.
Similarly, Sheba has political motives. He challenges David’s authority beyond David’s tribe of Judah. After Absalom is killed everybody is trying to show their loyalty to David. The other tribes claim that Judah is essentially getting favoritism because they are David’s tribe. The men of Judah deny that, and then Sheba says something to the effect that he doesn’t care and no one in the other 10 tribes should recognize David’s authority over them. There are 2 interesting points in his statement.
First is that the authority to govern was given from God, not earned by David. Surely Sheba didn’t take that into account. This is man’s original sin of thinking he should be in charge.
The second is we lost a tribe. It was Judah vs the other 10 tribes. Now the Levites don’t count because of the special arrangement of the responsibilities of the priesthood. But the land was divided in to 12 parts (13 if you count both halves of Mannassa). I think the tribe of Simeon, whose territory was surrounded by Judah, has been effectively absorbed into Judah.
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Tom Tighe
- Posts: 245
- Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 8:27 pm
The Census
A census sounds harmless, why did Joab warn against it and God get really angry about it?
This was really a conscription. By counting the fighting men, these men became obligated to fight for Israel ( King David). It was an "all volunteer force" prior to this. The king would send word of the need for soldiers and people would join if they felt the cause was just (God inspired). we saw in many cases God drastically reduced the number of volunteer combatants (Gideon) to His glory. After the census, the king could demand that number of soldiers support his efforts. It was an arrogant and unfaithful action by David.
It is interesting that the Samuel and the Chronicles versions are almost word for word identical except for the price paid for Ornan's threshing floor (the site of the future temple) 50 sheckles of silver vs 600 sheckles of gold seems like a big disparity to me.
This was really a conscription. By counting the fighting men, these men became obligated to fight for Israel ( King David). It was an "all volunteer force" prior to this. The king would send word of the need for soldiers and people would join if they felt the cause was just (God inspired). we saw in many cases God drastically reduced the number of volunteer combatants (Gideon) to His glory. After the census, the king could demand that number of soldiers support his efforts. It was an arrogant and unfaithful action by David.
It is interesting that the Samuel and the Chronicles versions are almost word for word identical except for the price paid for Ornan's threshing floor (the site of the future temple) 50 sheckles of silver vs 600 sheckles of gold seems like a big disparity to me.